San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder has introduced a resolution to extend the maximum stay length at homeless shelters for families with children after the city recently reinstated the 90-day maximum policy.
In December 2024, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing implemented a 90-day stay limit for people living in shelters, a previously used policy that was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Fielder has urged Mayor Daniel Lurie to stop the 90-day limit, saying that the new policy will increase the number of families living on the streets.
Fielder’s resolution would extend the stay limit to one year.
“No child should ever worry about where they’ll sleep at night,” Fielder said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “We as a city should be working around the clock to end family homelessness, not punishing families for our own failure to provide viable exits to affordable housing.”
Under the updated policy, families can request up to three 30-day extensions if they need more time to exit homelessness. In January, all families who were enrolled in a 90-day family shelter stay were granted an automatic 30-day extension.
“They need more than 30 days to resolve those challenges,” Fielder said. “This policy is causing unnecessary fear and trauma with revolving 30-extensions that may or may not be granted based on a family’s case manager.”
The purpose of the shift is to prioritize shelter access for the most vulnerable families, reinforce the use of shelters for emergencies, boost flow through the family shelter system, and shrink the waitlist for households with no other alternative, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
Charles Lutvak, the mayor’s spokesperson, said that there are more than 300 families waiting for a spot on any given night.
“As our administration works closely with supervisors to expand capacity in our system to give those on the street a better option, we must help families move into permanent housing, putting them on the path to stability and opening up much-needed shelter space,” he said.
“No child should ever worry about where they’ll sleep at night. We as a city should be working around the clock to end family homelessness, not punishing families for our own failure to provide viable exits to affordable housing.” Supervisor Jackie Fielder
The new policy is intended to prioritize families who live in the most urgent situations, such as people “living in a place not meant for human habitation,” families with a child that is under 2 years old, families fleeing domestic violence or human trafficking, pregnant people, and those who are facing eviction from a shelter or residence in less than 14 days.
However, Fielder criticized the policy change for not providing solutions to improve the flow of the family shelter system. She argues that the shift is only a Band-Aid on the underlying problems within the city’s response to mitigating homelessness.
“There are persistent problems coordinating entry and access points, a severe shortage of fairly compensated case managers, a shortage of multilingual case managers, and most of all, the severe lack of new family-specific shelter beds, permanent supportive housing and affordable housing benefits,” Fielder said.
Fielder said in a post to X on Tuesday that she has urged Lurie multiple times to reconsider the 90-day stay limit policy to no avail.
I’ve asked Mayor Daniel Lurie and his admin multiple times to reconsider a policy that would evict several hundred children and their families from shelters after 90 days. To no avail.
Today I am introducing legislation to protect a child’s right to shelter… — Jackie Fielder (@JackieFielder_) April 15, 2025
Lurie’s office said it will review Fielder’s legislation and work with the board to bolster shelter space and focus on ensuring families have access to long-term housing options.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Supervisor Fielder and the entire board to add the capacity we need to get people off the street while helping families access the long-term stable housing they deserve,” Lutvak said.
Supervisors Connie Chan, Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen and Myrna Melgar are co-sponsoring the resolution.
“San Francisco is one of the wealthiest cities in the world,” Fielder lamented. “Family homelessness is not an issue of allowed resources, but rather political will.”